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Watch: ‘Today’s Savannah Guthrie Is Terrified of a Bullfrog

Savannah Guthrie freaked out before, during, and after a bullfrog race on Wednesday’s episode of “Today.”

It all began when the third hour anchor was antagonized over her frog phobia on Twitter earlier in the morning. @todayshow tweeted: “@SavannahGuthrie‘s fear of frogs will be put to the test with country fair on @todayshow plaza. Will she make it? #ribbit.” Guthrie responded with a solemn “no.”

The real moment of truth came during the show when she was asked to pick one up for a face-off with her co-hosts. “Oh my God – do I have to hold it?” she said, visibly horrified. “Do I have to do this? I just don’t know if I can.” (To her credit she made it through – but the log road was bumpy.) Seconds later, just as she was about to throw to the commercial break, a menacing Al Roker and Matt Lauer approached with one of the dreaded amphibians in hand. She lost it. “Oh my God, stop it – stop it!” she shrieked in terror as she ran away. “Get that frog away from me!” she screamed. “I’m serious!”

Later in the day she tweeted a link to “full coverage of frog-gate,” which explained the origins of her fear. “When it rained hard, these big Colorado River toads would come out and they were so loud. Their croaks sounded like large animals outside my window,” she told Today.com. “I had a terrible nightmare that there were frogs under my bed. I was so convinced there were frogs under there that I refused to get out of bed. My dad came in and tried to convince me there weren’t any frogs. He even got down on his knees and looked under the bed to prove it. Ultimately, he had to pick me up and carry me out of the room because I was too scared to stand on the floor near the bed.”